The first drug to help people with Down syndrome overcome cognitive deficits is being tested on humans.

Scientists at a number of top American universities failed to inform parents of the grave risks of enrolling in a clinical trial on blindness in premature babies, says the federal agency overseeing the welfare of people in research projects.

However, a journalist for the American financial magazine Forbes has once again raised the issue of IVF ethics. Its "original sin", says Peter Ubel, was lack of informed consent in the birth of Louise Brown, the first "test-tube baby".

New rules in India will force pharmaceutical companies to pay higher compensation if patients in clinical trials die or are injured.

Some IVF patients are being offered risky, unsafe techniques which have not been developed ethically and which offer dubious benefits, according to an extraordinary article in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online (RBO).

University of Minnesota bioethicist Carl Elliott has composed a handy primer on how to exploit a research subject in his blog: “Step 1: Design a risky, deceptive or scientifically worthless study. Step 2: Injure subjects. Step 3: Bankrupt the injured subjects by forcing them to pay for their medical care.”